S02.E05: What Happens in the Catskills

[Scarlett45]

 Raq focuses on mother-son bonding with Kanan in the Catskills, but they're interrupted when business follows them. Crown disrespects Lou, bringing their simmering beef to a boil. Burke digs into Howard's personal life.

 

Air Date: September 11, 2022

[mxc90]

Weird episode!

I thought this was an episode of "The Twilight Zone" seeing Raq smiling most of the time, how extra thick her plot armor was on this week, no deaths this week (not even the racist mobster) and Kanan failed twice to score with Hannah! What??!!!!!!

We couldn't at least get the details from Kanan and Howard's conversation from the last episode?!

After all Kanan has been through. Raq is treating him like a 10-year-old innocent child at times.

What is with these mobsters and their leather jackets? Probably 80 degrees out.

Were these mobsters prepared to follow Raq to Canada if she had gone there?

The mobster's car had New York plates. Aren't' they from New Jersey?
The mob don't kill kids for Karma reasons and Sal will be mad. Kanan fits the "kid" category to them? 

How convenient the mobsters got a room next to Raq and didn't need a reservation.
These mobsters could have popped Raq anytime in Queens while she was alone. And had a good opportunity when Raq was running to the other cabin to save Kanan, he could have easily shot her in the back.

Also, they could have watched Raq and Kanan bury a body and used it to their advantage to black mail Raq to not bring her business to New Jersey. No forward thinking.

And after the "family bonding", Raq just brings up a body to Kanan from them to bury. I wonder if Kanan feels insulted that this was just to bury a body trip under the guise of mother/son time.

Raq rolled up the Catskills without a gun? What other purpose did she buy the knife unless she knew the mob were going to go after her. 

When did Raq sense she was going to be attacked? She had her "Spidey sense" on. Raq would have beaten Jason Vorhees' ass if he tried to catch her lacking in the woods.

A twist, the mobster shoots another mobster to wrap up this non sensical episode.

The next day, Hannah smoked weed with the father and son when they tried to return the kindling borrowed.

How do these mobsters go back to Sal and tell him what happened? They are dead for being embarrassed and not getting the job done.

In 2022, Hannah is still a little shaken, looking out her window time to time, thinking Raq or the Mob will return to get her. 

Marvin should have a street name. That junkie shouldn't know his name.

The dead body is in another apartment, why close business for "inventory"? Should be open 24 hours.

Body has been in there for months; Lysol won't help now.

When Juke was singing, at first it seemed Kenya was jealous of Juke and then she got into it or was it a bad edit job (they didn't give actress good direction how to react?).

My goodness. That kid didn't waste time making a move on Juke. He must not be a real church goer. I can see him making another attempt and then he spreads the word that Juke is gay.

Renee is going way and above to help Marvin. I doubt she does that for the others.

Marvin opened up about Juke to Renee and then we see him making two trips to Scarsdale to see how Toni is living. Huh! Would have thought the conversation would have led him to make an attempt at another reconciliation with Juke. Nope! Seemed odd that sequence. I don't think Toni is a CI anymore.

Surprised the Scarsdale cop didn't run Marvin's plates or didn't follow him out of town.

Must be Crown's plan to drive a wedge between Juke and Lou. He went out of his way to get the tape of Zisa singing to Juke. Gave Juke Zisa's home address. Crown has a death wish.

Crown must be real stupid to insult Lou in front of the guy. He didn't think Lou could hear him. 

Was that Zisa best attempt to look like Aliayah?

So Juke and Zisa couldn't bother clean up the broken cassette tape off the sidewalk. No littering!

Did Lou already know about Jessica and Crown or did Famous revel to him, and Lou played it cool?

What grounds does Burke have to bring Andrea in and question her about Howard? That's a bold move. Did Burke not think she was going to go back to Howard to tell him what had happened? Next week should be a scene with Howard and Burke arguing about this. The more I think of it, when was the last time Howard and Burke had a scene together?

Oh no! Howard and Andrea's 7 year "relationship" is over. 
"White girls will get you killed". The opposite was told to Nicole from her mom!

Black Bear is docile?!! Sure! I am not staying around to find out. No thanks!

I rolled my eyes so hard from all the events, I guess I'm possessed.

Edited September 11, 2022 by mxc90

[Joimiaroxeu]

How did Marvin ever think putting a corpse in the wall behind some plasterboard was going to keep? And how was he doing the removal without wearing a mask? Ugh.

Okay, I recognized the Pebbles and Michel'le references Lou made but not Tracie Spencer. Let me jump over to YouTube right quick.

TMW the state patrol rolls up on the tail of your rental car when you've got a dead body in the trunk.

Oh, Renée, you really don't want to know Marvin's business. But it seems to me he could just come up with a fake story to satisfy her.

Surprising to see Toni again. How did Marvin know where she was?

Did those mafia guys follow Raq all the up to the Catskills from the city? The road didn't seem very busy so they had to have stayed pretty far behind to keep her from noticing their car. Yet they were close enough to know exactly which cabin she went to.

Yep, in the long run the songwriting credit is probably going to be worth way more than having her face and voice attached to a generic pop song. Juke should listen to Lou.

Sounds like Raq's daddy was quite the gangster Renaissance man. Bootlegger, prize fighter, and jazz musician.

Sure Raq, you share everything with Kanan except the truth. He knows you're lying about Howard and you know he knows. He doesn't trust you anymore.

I thought Juke looked great with her hair down.

My favorite version of O Mary Don't You Weep will always be Aretha's but IMO Juke did it justice.

That's what happens when you see the same hooker for seven years, Howard. Your detective partner gets jealous and suspicious, and starts sticking her nose in. Pssht, prostitute confidentiality clause. 🙄

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Surprised the Scarsdale cop didn't run Marvin's plates or didn't follow him out of town.

He did follow him, didn't he? Wasn't that his cruiser shown driving past when Marvin was watching Toni at some guy's house?

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Was that Zisa best attempt to look like Aliayah?

Heh, the show isn't being subtle at all. Not sure I'm okay with it though. Aliayah's memory has been exploited enough AFAIC.

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Black Bear is docile?

I think so unless they have cubs. Then they'll attack anything they can smell because they're protecting their babies. In the heat of moment though, the average person likely won't know there are cubs nearby.

[Scarlett45]

On 9/11/2022 at 3:23 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Yep, in the long run the songwriting credit is probably going to be worth way more than having her face and voice attached to a generic pop song. Juke should listen to Lou.

Yes, but Juke is still 16. She’s also 16yrs old, a black lesbian, who’s estranged from her father (for justifiable reasons, even Marvin knows it) and she wants to find her place in the world. Music is the one thing she knows she amazing at and she always has been praised for- yet that’s being given to a more “acceptable” woman. Yes I understand why she’s mad. 
 

On 9/11/2022 at 3:23 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

I thought Juke looked great with her hair down.

She did. Very cute and age/era appropriate. The fashion on this show has been on point. 

On 9/11/2022 at 10:37 AM, mxc90 said:

Marvin opened up about Juke to Renee and then we see him making two trips to Scarsdale to see how Toni is living. Huh! Would have thought the conversation would have led him to make an attempt at another reconciliation with Juke. Nope! Seemed odd that sequence. I don't think Toni is a CI anymore.

I really thought they were going to end up in bed together this episode. Renee was being so inappropriate meeting with him outside of group, and Marvin is Marvin. I appreciated that Marvin admitted Juke probably won’t ever forgive him and she shouldn’t, but it was funny/not funny* that he felt he needed to clarify that he didn’t sexually assault her or anything like that. *sexual assault is never funny
 

“White girls will get you killed.” Truer word were never spoken, not because of the actual concern for the well being of said girls, but because you can’t touch white men’s property. As was demonstrated by how that guy was acting “if you were my daughter I’d lock you up.” Hannah was smart to go get help, though knocking the gangster in the head with some furniture might have been quicker. That guy is so dumb I swear. 

[mxc90]

5 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

He did follow him, didn't he? Wasn't that his cruiser shown driving past when Marvin was watching Toni at some guy's house?

Not the same cop. That was a different cop car in Toni's neighborhood. I think she lives in a different town.

5 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I think so unless they have cubs. Then they'll attack anything they can smell because they're protecting their babies. In the heat of moment though, the average person likely won't know there are cubs nearby.

I am in the less than average group and would be on the run.

5 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

That's what happens when you see the same hooker for seven years, Howard. Your detective partner gets jealous and suspicious, and starts sticking her nose in.

Also, wasn't she dumb to admit to being a hooker? She could have said she and Howard are just friends. Now Burke could have put Howard in jeopardy if another cop asked Burke who is this woman in the interrogation room (Oh! It's Howard's hooker! Captain).

5 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Surprising to see Toni again. How did Marvin know where she was?

I could be wrong; I think Marvin's lawyer said she was living upstate NY. Marvin is some bloodhound finding people.

5 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I thought Juke looked great with her hair down.

Yup!

5 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Did those mafia guys follow Raq all the up to the Catskills from the city? The road didn't seem very busy so they had to have stayed pretty far behind to keep her from noticing their car. Yet they were close enough to know exactly which cabin she went to.

Made no sense. Raq should have spotted them in her rearview mirror a long time ago.

2 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I really thought they were going to end up in bed together this episode. Renee was being so inappropriate meeting with him outside of group, and Marvin is Marvin. I appreciated that Marvin admitted Juke probably won’t ever forgive him and she shouldn’t, but it was funny/not funny* that he felt he needed to clarify that he didn’t sexually assault her or anything like that. *sexual assault is never funny

Renee should shouldn't meet with Marvin outside the group.

I'd rather see those two hookup than have Toni come back. Not sure what her purpose is now on the show. I thought she was done. If she is not going to talk to the police, he should just leave her alone and live her life.

His talk to Renee was the best part of his scenes this week. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by mxc90

[Scarlett45]

39 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Renee should meet with outside the group.

Is it appropriate for the anger management facilitator to do that? It seems like a big conflict of interest. They haven’t done anything inappropriate YET but it sure looks like it. So unprofessional on her part I think- and given this is tv we know they will end up having sex eventually. 

[mxc90]

3 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Is it appropriate for the anger management facilitator to do that? It seems like a big conflict of interest. They haven’t done anything inappropriate YET but it sure looks like it. So unprofessional on her part I think- and given this is tv we know they will end up having sex eventually. 

Sorry. Typo. I meant she shouldn't meet with Marvin.

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, mxc90 said:

Also, wasn't she dumb to admit to being a hooker? She could have said she and Howard are just friends. Now Burke could have put Howard in jeopardy if another cop asked Burke who is this woman in the interrogation room (Oh! It's Howard's hooker! Captain).

Yes it was- but you’d be amazed the number of things people admit to. Case law in law school text books are full of “why did they ever say that??”

Andrea isn’t a lawyer or a career criminal- this is the early 90s (Miranda Rights didn’t happen until the 60s) we haven’t had decades of popular tv shows telling viewers “you have the right to remain silent.”, A cop pulled her in and she got spooked. She’s a sex worker but she’s not involved in the drug game or anything high level in a criminal organization. She likely had never been questioned by the police before and because she does have an illegal job she’s extra sensitive to these things. And yeah, most mothers get spooked when you say “foster care”. I cut Andrea a lot of slack on this one.

[luckyroll3]

On 9/11/2022 at 11:37 AM, mxc90 said:

When Juke was singing, at first it seemed Kenya was jealous of Juke and then she got into it or was it a bad edit job (they didn't give actress good direction how to react?).

I think it was a combo of bad direction and LeToya not being that great of an actress. She was trying real hard to pull off that "Oh, ok now! I'm not mad at it!" look, and was failing desperately. 

On 9/11/2022 at 11:37 AM, mxc90 said:

My goodness. That kid didn't waste time making a move on Juke. He must not be a real church goer. I can see him making another attempt and then he spreads the word that Juke is gay.

The Church Youth Group is always where all the hooks up happen!

On 9/11/2022 at 4:23 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Okay, I recognized the Pebbles and Michel'le references Lou made but not Tracie Spencer. Let me jump over to YouTube right quick.

I loved Tracie Spencer! I won a talent show in 5th grade singing one of her songs. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

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I loved Tracie Spencer! I won a talent show in 5th grade singing one of her songs. 

It's funny because I'm familiar with several of her songs, just not her name. In fact, I was driving around this morning and heard Tender Kisses on one of the "old school" R&B radio stations in my area. Before today I wouldn't have been able to put a name to the song. (Or I would've assumed it was Pebbles.) For some reason Tracie didn't make a big impression for me back in the day but she had/has a great voice. Maybe she got lost among all the other singers of her age and visual type.

Edited September 14, 2022 by Joimiaroxeu

[AntFTW]

On 9/11/2022 at 11:37 AM, mxc90 said:

Raq would have beaten Jason Vorhees' ass if he tried to catch her lacking in the woods.

Jason didn't want that smoke.

On 9/11/2022 at 11:37 AM, mxc90 said:

Did Lou already know about Jessica and Crown or did Famous revel to him, and Lou played it cool?

I don't think he knew. I think he found out in that moment, and tried to play it cool.

[AntFTW]

On 9/11/2022 at 7:49 PM, Scarlett45 said:

Yes, but Juke is still 16. She’s also 16yrs old, a black lesbian, who’s estranged from her father (for justifiable reasons, even Marvin knows it) and she wants to find her place in the world. Music is the one thing she knows she amazing at and she always has been praised for- yet that’s being given to a more “acceptable” woman. Yes I understand why she’s mad. 

and that is finally starting to fill in the blanks of why adult Juke is a cop.